Software Defined Network (Software Defined Network, SDN) is a new network architecture. By separating a control layer of a network device from a forwarding layer of the network device, the Software Defined Network implements flexible network traffic control, enhances network management efficiency, and provides a good platform for core network innovation and application innovation.
OpenFlow is one of typical technologies for implementing the Software Defined Network. Network element devices in Software Defined Network based on the OpenFlow technology mainly include an OpenFlow controller (OpenFlow Controller) and an OpenFlow switch (OpenFlow Switch). The OpenFlow switch is a core component, and includes three parts: an OpenFlow protocol, a secure channel, and a flow table. The OpenFlow switch may include one or more flow tables. The flow table includes many flow table entries, and each flow table entry is a flow rule. The flow rule is generated by the controller and delivered to the switch. When receiving data, the switch performs flow table matching on the received data by performing querying in the flow table, and executes a corresponding operation on the data according to a matched flow rule.
In a future communications network, there are increasingly more types of data services. Accordingly, most efficient processing processes required by various data services are different from each other. A data processing device in the future network needs to identify different data streams so as to execute different processing processes. In a wireless communications network, data processing flexibility of a base station may be extended with the help of flexibility of OpenFlow. During data processing, a flow table-based data processing technology is introduced, to perform matching between a received data packet and a rule in the flow table, and further to address an appropriate processing process.
According to a current flow table rule matching capability, when there are 6000 to 7000 data streams, time consumed in flow table rule matching reaches a millisecond level and may reach five milliseconds.
In a scenario of the future network involving massive data connections, for example, millions of data connections may exist in one base station at the same time. In the base station, the millions of data connections correspond to data stream matching rules of a same quantity. If a large quantity of flow rules are stored in a flow table and wait for data packets to perform rule matching, a delay is caused, and a requirement imposed on a data processing delay by a wireless communications system cannot be met.